Work from home jobs are the toughest jobs to find, get and keep. Why? For starters, the demand is much higher than the supply. Stay at home moms, students, moonlighters, people with limited physical abilities, and those that prefer not to commute are all competing for these jobs. Some may not mind the commute, but prefer to work in a relaxed and familiar environment. What this adds up to is thousands of workers lining up to compete for the few truly legitimate work from home jobs available.

Next, some of the best work from home jobs actually begin as onsite jobs. A large percentage of workers get to the point in their careers where they can suggest working at home part-time. Eventually, if the boss is satisfied, these part-time situations move into full-time work from home positions.

If you’re fortunate enough to land a work from home job or convince your boss that it will work out better for everyone—great, but you’re still not home free. Stay at home jobs are not for you if you are unorganized, easily distracted, or tend to procrastinate. Many stay at home job seekers mistakenly believe that stay at home workers can work when they feel like it and they only have to answer to themselves. This is not true. In fact, if you work at home for a company, they will monitor you just as much as they would if you were working in an office—maybe even more. Stay at home workers still need to produce and employers will waste no time making sure you do.

Best Work from Home Jobs

The following list of work from home positions includes jobs that are suitable for all skill levels and personality types. Some may sound like fun, while others might sound like, well, work. It is important to remember that no matter how much fun these jobs are (or are not), in order to keep your position you must always remain professional and follow company rules to the letter. If you don’t, there are thousands of stay at home job seekers who are ready and willing to take your place.

Some of the best work from home jobs include: Customer Service Representative, Virtual Assistant, Medical Transcriptionist, Online Tutor, and Travel Agent.

Customer Service Agent – Customer service agents work in just about every industry. They work in travel, telecommunications, retail, insurance, entertainment, and more. True, many companies do outsource, but there are still some that prefer to hire workers right here in the U.S. Just a few examples include wireless cell phone services, auto insurance companies (claims), ticket agencies (concerts, sporting events), and travel agencies. To find a work at home customer service position, contact the company you’re interested in directly.

Virtual Assistant – “Virtual assistant” is a fairly new job title, but it’s growing at a rapid pace. Companies and businesses both small and large, use virtual assistants to do everything from mailings and bookkeeping to marketing and data entry. There are several ways to become a part of this new industry. You can sign up with an agency (simply search through listings online) or you can start your own service. Our advice, to see how it’s done, try working with a service first. Use your favorite search engine to look for virtual assistant agencies online.

Medical Transcriptionist – All transcription jobs require different and specific skills. If you are working for the medical industry, you must have a firm grasp of medical terminology or if you are working in the legal field, you should be familiar with legal terms. You must also be a fast typist. The minimum wpm for most positions is 65. To find medical transcriptionist jobs, use your favorite search engine to locate agencies. One of the most professional and reliable agencies out there is MedQuist (formerly Spheris). Visit www.medquist.com for job listings and information about how to get started.

Online Tutor – Most online tutoring agencies prefer to hire individuals with an associate degree or higher. You should also have excellent grades in the subjects you plan to specialize in. All online tutoring agencies will check your credentials. To locate online tutoring opportunities, just use your favorite search engine or visit www.tutor.com. There are literally hundreds of online tutoring agencies to choose from, so take your time and do your research.

Travel Agent – Online travel agents are much less expensive to hire than operating out of an office. Cruise lines, cruise travel agencies, hotels, and more hire travel agents (also customer service reps.) to help customers find the right travel package or the cheapest flights. You can check for openings for just about any cruise line or hotel by visiting the line’s official website or you can visit Locate A Travel Agency (LATA) for travel agency listings across the U.S., www.locateatravelagency.com.

No matter how polished an agency, company, or business website looks, always do your homework. Check to make sure the company or agency has a physical and verifiable address. And no, PO boxes do not count. Also, make sure the agency or company has a phone number. Call to see if you can get through to a live person. Finally, find out if the company is listed with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) by visiting the BBB at www.bbb.org.

Tips and Warnings: If a company or agency asks you to pay an application fee, to pay for a list or to pay for equipment or software, do think twice. You should never, ever have to pay a fee or otherwise to obtain a position.